The Consequence of the Resurrection

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Amen, amen.

Good morning, church.

Let's try that again.

Good morning, church.

Well, good morning.

Well, my name is Neil.

I'm the lead pastor here.

Let me we're gonna dig into God's word.

Uh, and I'm gonna just unpack it for you and tell you what it says.

And then at the end of it, we'll take some time just to be still.

Some questions come up on the screen for you to think about.

We believe Christianity is not an emotion to be maintained, it's a truth to be understood.

It stirs emotions in you, but it appeals to your mind as well, okay?

Let me pray and we'll jump in together this morning.

Let's pray.

God, thank you.

That that that uh the empty tomb reminds us that the uh that there's a consequence.

Something's been accomplished on our behalf that we couldn't do for ourselves.

It's very consequential.

And so, Lord, we're not here today to become more religious.

Matter of fact, religion will not change anybody.

It's a relationship with God that changes people.

And so, Lord, religion makes us narrow-minded, mean, critical, harsh people, but a relationship with you makes us more like you, more loving, more full of truth.

You're this balance of grace and truth.

We want to be that way, God.

So speak to us from your word and by your spirit today.

We pray in Christ's name, and everyone said, Amen.

You can have a seat if you got a Bible.

You can take it and open up to 1 Corinthians chapter 15.

1 Corinthians 15 · chapter mention

If you don't have a Bible, don't sweat it.

It'll come, everything I say will come on the screen back here.

I want to talk to you this morning about the consequence of the resurrection.

The consequence of the resurrection.

Now, my wife and I have two daughters that are now, one of them's married now of the house, the other one's uh it well into her college.

Uh, and then when they were little, we had a problem at our house.

And the problem was cutting things up.

Uh, we would sit to sit down to dinner, and whatever my wife and I had, our our our girls ate.

We didn't cook two meals.

We didn't like, hey, you got a special diet.

I grew up in a home where if the adults had steaks, the kids had hot dogs.

And I thought it was an injustice.

And so I just said, I'm not doing that to my kids.

But they had a hard time with a knife and fork.

And so we would have pork chops, they couldn't do that, steak they couldn't do that.

And so the stuff would come and they would just push their plate over to me and say, There you go, daddy, and I would cut it up for them, okay?

And then I'd push it back and go, There you go, Madison, there you go, Sophie.

But they got to a certain age, and I was kind of like, hey, you need to learn how to handle a knife and a fork, okay?

Put your knife in your right hand.

And so we were having a little steak one night, and one of them was about four, and she was sawing on it for about five minutes, and finally she dropped the utensils on the table and said, This is overwhelming.

It just pushed it back.

Now, you should be thinking, why do I tell you that?

Because sometimes, I'm this is the preacher saying this.

Sometimes reading the Bible can feel the same way.

You can be like, oh my gosh, this is overwhelming.

I don't understand anything it says.

So, what I'm gonna do today, not because you're small children, you're adults, and I'll treat you like that.

What I'm gonna do is read 11 verses in this in this chapter, and I'm gonna cut it up in small pieces and say, let's don't miss what this is saying, okay?

That makes sense.

Say amen.

All right, 1 Corinthians chapter 15, verse 1.

1 Corinthians 15:1

The apostle Paul records these words.

He says, Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel that I preach to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word that I preach to you, unless you believed in vain.

For I delivered of you to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins in accordance with scriptures, that he was buried, he was raised on the third day, in accordance with the scriptures, and then he appeared to Cephas, and then to twelve.

Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom were still alive, although some have fallen asleep.

Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.

For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.

But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not in vain.

On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me, whether then it was I or they, so we preach, and so you believe.

Okay?

The consequence of the resurrection.

What do you mean?

Where do you get the consequence of the resurrection?

Basically, there's two huge consequences contained in this little section of scripture that I want to point to.

The first one is this that there's good news.

There's good news.

You know, where do you get that?

Verse one.

He says, Now I'll remind you, brothers, of the gospel that I preach to you.

The word gospel literally means good news.

So when I say there's good news, this is what I'm talking about the gospel.

The truth of Christianity is news.

It's not advice.

It's not advice about what you should do, it's news about what Christ has done.

And we use the word gospel to encapsulate these realities.

Now, I know when I say point number one in the Easter Sunday service is there is good news.

Your first thought may be, I shaved my legs for this.

Are you kidding me, bro?

Come on, you got more than that, right?

Stay with me, okay?

I know it sounds thin, but just think about the world that we live in today because I made myself watch the news every night this past week.

We're in deep weeds, people, and I just took notes.

That's why I wrote down.

This is what's going on in our culture in our world right now.

China and Taiwan are on the verge of war.

A couple days ago, China had 71 airplanes over over their airspace.

Uh, violence between Israel and Hamas.

Hamas is launching rockets into Israel and Israel's retaliating.

The dollar's unstable.

AI is making humans unnecessary.

I told a friend of mine, because what are you preaching?

I said, I said, that's what I'm preaching.

I got just two points while I'll unpack it a lot.

And this and I was talking about this, and I said, Yeah, and AI is making human beings unnecessary.

And he's like, What you got against Alan Iverson?

I was like, dude, really?

AI is artificial intelligence.

Basically, we are so in love with technology, we're going to uh we're going to program ourselves out of existence if we're not careful.

Politicians are screaming at each other on the on the floor of the House of Representatives in Tennessee.

Our justice system's been weaponized.

It's so bad as a matter of fact that people have what are watching less TV because their psyche cannot take any more negativity.

And into such a culture, wouldn't you think some good news would make a difference?

So I want to just point to some good news and some little words that are used here in the Bible.

The first one is this piece of good news.

He says, Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received.

Received is the first piece of good news.

Why?

Because that word received means to accept with the mind and incorporate into your life to become a part of you.

To accept with your mind.

The Bible never asks you to put lay down your intellect and stop thinking critically and using your intellect, but you have to accept it in your mind, okay?

And it becomes a part of you.

You incorporate it in your life and it becomes a part of you.

Why is this good news?

Because the gospel is available to anyone, to anyone, to the critical thinker, to the liberal, to the conservative, to everybody in between.

The gospel is available to everyone.

It's available to you.

This is borne out all through the Bible.

One of the many places is in John chapter 4.

John 4 · chapter mention

Jesus is sitting down in the middle of the day at a well.

He's tired and he's thirsty.

And there's a woman sitting there.

Now, this is the big deal because most women would get up like five o'clock, go down to the well, draw the water, get the for their family in the morning.

This lady woke up with a Gatorade and some Advil, a red Gatorade and some Advil on her nightstand.

If you know what I'm talking about, say amen.

Sinners.

Anyway, yes, yes.

She is out there in the middle of the day to draw water.

She smells like vodka and bad ideas from the night before.

And Jesus engages her and he just says, Hey, would you give me a drink?

And she's like, Really?

Bro, you're a Jew and I'm a Gentile.

We hate each other.

And Jesus says, if you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would ask me, and I would not just give you water, I would give you living water, and you would never lose it.

And all of a sudden she is hooked.

And Jesus just keeps talking.

He drops this on in verse 13.

He says, because she's like, Well, you know, we got water right here.

And he says, he's talking about some spiritual reality.

She's talking about not being thirsty.

Jesus says, Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again.

But whoever drinks the water that I give him will never be thirsty again.

The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.

This is what I mean when I say, hey, the word received is good news because this becomes a part of you.

It's the same thing Jesus talked about over and over and over.

This water will become in you a well springing up to eternal life.

And your coworkers will be like, hey man, the world seems to be going to hell in a handbasket, and you seem to be chill.

What's the secret?

And all of a sudden, what they're really saying is, I'm thirsty.

Give me something, let me taste this thing that you've tasted inside of you.

So the first piece of uh of good news is that, hey, the gospel is available to everyone because you can receive it.

Now, by the way, this woman, when Jesus dropped that on her, you know the next thing she said?

She said, Give me some of this water so I don't get thirsty and keep coming to this well to draw water.

You should ask yourself today, is the well you're drawing from enough to satisfy your deepest thirst?

Good news is it received, received.

Secondly, he says, in which you stand.

We preach this gospel to you.

We share this good news with you.

You received it, and then he says, in which you stand.

That means to fix, to establish, or to solidify, to make a person keep their place.

What's the good news about that?

It basically means the gospel makes me capable.

The gospel makes me capable.

Some of you sell yourself short.

Some of you are like, I don't know what to say.

A guy said to me a while back, I wish I had a pocket-sized version of you I could carry around.

And when something awkward happens, I can pull it out and go, go, Pastor Neil.

I'm like, here's the thing: your priesthood is just as viable as mine.

Believe it or not, I do not go around and try to get into awkward conversations with people.

I don't.

But when I sense one is happening, I get a little excited.

I get a little excited, like happened just a couple weeks ago after the whole Nashville school shooting.

I have a friend that doesn't go to church, doesn't believe in God.

He says, I think you're wasting your life.

You could be a millionaire if you were a businessman.

I'm like, that's overrated, okay?

Come on, man.

What do you mean, a millionaire?

No.

And so after every time something bad happens, he rings me up.

Hey man, where's God?

Where's God?

I mean, ain't God in control of the world?

And what's happening here?

Yeah, God gives people a free will.

Some use it for evil, some use it for good.

God could take away all the evil in the world, but he had to take away your free will, make you a robot.

Well, that's not what I'm talking about.

I'm talking about gun control.

Oh, brother.

And then people who don't go to church have a great idea what preachers should be doing.

And he said, Don't you think people like you should use your platform to kind of beat the drum and talk more about gun control?

And I said, Nashville, what that lady did is not about gun control.

I can prove it in less than 30 seconds.

He goes, All right, Mark.

He's a former Marine.

He's very punctual.

Go.

And I said, Okay, this lady uses because he said, Bush will be an assault rifle ban.

I said, Okay, you sound like a politician.

An assault rifle ban.

Okay, wonderful.

The lady used an assaults, an assault rifle, and took lives.

Okay, that's right.

The cops showed up, they have the same kind of assault rifle gun.

They use that to take her life.

Which one of their guns is guilty?

I yield my time back to you.

I think I have 17 seconds.

It was real quiet on the phone.

I said, you saying that guns kill people is like me saying that my forks make me fat.

No, it doesn't work that way.

Here's what here's what you remove from the equation.

Listen to me.

Stop laughing.

You're in church.

Um here's what you remove from the equation: human responsibility.

It's not about assault weapons ban.

Thank you, Joe Biden.

It's about gender dysphoria, it's about mental health.

It's tragic.

But it's not about stop being intellectually lazy and going gun control, gun control, gun control.

No.

Let's put the responsibility where it should be on us.

Have you noticed that the cultural expectations is for Christians to apologize for not agreeing with the culture?

And we should promise to do better by not having any beliefs that are contrary to the spirit of the age.

Beloved, that is not Christianity, that is cowardice.

And it doesn't go well.

If you believe the Bible, it does not go well for the cowards.

And by the way, our culture is hardwired to back you and I into a corner where you have to compromise and be a coward.

And I'm not saying you're cowards, okay?

I'm saying our culture is coming at us in such a way that we're gonna have to, we're gonna get that fork in the road where we just say, hey, either I'm gonna cop out and be a coward, or I'm just gonna say, let the chips fall where they may.

Okay?

But but but the Bible's pretty, it gives a dire warning.

Revelation 28.

I mean, excuse me, Revelation 21, verse 8, last book of the Bible, it's talking about judgment.

Revelation 21:8

What's gonna happen?

Look at what it says.

He says, but as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.

Now, you're smart people.

Look at that list, okay?

You got the faithless, detestable, murderers, immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and liars.

And topping the list, the cowardly.

Why do the cowardly, why are the cowardly listed first?

Look at me.

It's the people that knew the truth and wouldn't stand for the truth.

It's the people that said, Oh, well, I oh, my kid might get kicked off the swim team.

Never mind.

Yeah, yeah.

You see, here's the good news the gospel makes you capable.

You can stand, you can occupy your space out of your identity and with authority.

That's not volume, okay?

That's presence.

Here's the third piece of good news in the text.

He says, by which you're being saved.

You receive this, you can stand in it.

Why?

Because this is the good news by which you're being saved.

Uh, that word saved is a Greek word so-zo, and it means this.

It means to deliver from the penalties of judgment.

To deliver from the penalties of judgment.

Now, one of the things we got to ask ourselves is, do you want the do you want relief or do you want the truth?

Do you want relief or do you want the truth?

We I'm confused.

What do you mean?

Uh, don't turn there, but in Luke chapter 17, Jesus is walking down the road and these lepers come up to him.

Luke 17 · chapter mention

Leprosy was like aids of the day before they had the meds that they do.

There was no way to cure it.

It was like a death penalty.

But they came up and they were ceremonially and and religiously unclean.

They couldn't go to church because they would contaminate people.

So they come up to Jesus and they're like, Hey, would you heal us?

And he goes, Okay, I'll tell you what, go show yourselves to the priest.

They had to go to the priest as evidence that they didn't have leprosy anymore.

And the Bible says, as they were going, I ain't got time to preach this, but look at me.

There's some things you don't experience from God until you obey God.

As they were going, they were healed.

There's ten of them.

I mean, they are like, whoa, this is awesome.

One of them comes back, kneels at the feet of Jesus, overwhelmed, okay, and what's just happened.

And he says, and Jesus says to him, Hey, go your way.

Your faith has saved you.

Now, if his faith saved him, what happened to the other nine?

Look at me.

They just got relieved.

They felt better.

They didn't get saved.

I remember as a kid, I didn't go to church a few times again.

Every once in a while, church people would ask me, Hey, have you ever been saved?

I got nothing, bro.

I don't know what that even means.

So when you talk about that, what you're really saying, you're not just saying, hey, do you go to church?

What you're really saying, has anything happened in your life that will deliver you from the penalties of the judgment that is to come?

Now I have friends all over the spectrum.

I got friends that are like right of Ronald Reagan.

Okay?

I've got friends that are left of the devil.

I mean, they believe nothing.

I mean, they're just, and one of my friends is way over here.

He likes to like pick on me.

And I'm like, bring it, Skippy.

This is like a buffet.

Take all you want, but eat all you take, okay?

And so he's always picking at me.

And so he's like, So you believe, and I'm like, no, no, no.

It's not just that I believe, it's the Bible teaches.

He says, Well, you believe that if I don't agree with you, no, it's not about agreeing with me.

Thank you.

Thank you.

He starts questions with this.

Hey, wouldn't you, wouldn't you agree?

And I'm like, is this a question or an invitation?

Ask me a question.

I'll tell you if I agree or not.

He's like, Oh, you're so frustrated.

You're like talking to my ex-wife.

And I said, All I heard in that was X, and I think I understand her more the more you talk.

Go ahead.

And he said, So you're saying if I don't agree with you, okay, go ahead.

If I don't agree with you, then I'm gonna go to hell.

I said, No, no, no.

It's not about agreeing with me, okay?

You if you do not agree with what the Bible teaches, you have to come up with a plan to escape the judgment that is to come from a Messiah.

It's messianic judgment.

That's what so-zo means to escape messianic judgment, to stand before the God who created you.

And he said, Well, I said, You got to come up with a plan.

What's your plan?

He goes, Well, I'm gonna do all the good I can while I'm alive.

And I said, Okay, that sounds good like you're in control, but here's the problem with that.

Your plan is the most offensive thing to the reality of Jesus you could do.

He goes, What do you mean?

Because basically what you're saying is that, hey, Jesus incarnated, I mean took on flesh, was born of a virgin in the manger, all that good stuff, lived a sinless life, died, was buried, rose again on the third day.

And you're gonna put your plan on the same level with that.

And then you're gonna stand before this God and tell him, Hey, by the way, my plan's just as good as yours.

Oh, well, let me let me think this over.

I said, think it over long and hard.

Now, I love this person.

I love this person, and because I love him, I don't want him to be unaware of what's gonna happen if he continues to be this way.

Now, let me bring it down to this room.

The same thing applies to all of you in this room.

If you don't, if you don't come to faith in Christ, you gotta have a plan for escaping the judgment of Christ.

This is why the gospel is good news.

Because he says, hey, this is the thing that saves you, okay?

It changes the way you relate to God.

It's not transactional.

I want to feel better, it's relational.

I want to know you.

Here's the fourth piece of good news.

He says, Hold fast.

He says, Again, I want to remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast.

This is the picture.

Now, by the way, this is good.

Why is this good news?

Because the gospel sustains us.

Look at me, regardless of what's happening around us.

The gospel sustains.

It's the picture.

If you've ever of a ship, the wind's blowing like this way, and the ship has to kind of turn into the wind so it's not blown off course.

If you've ever flown on a plane on a windy day, you'll be coming in.

I was coming into Houston Hobby one time on Southwest, and I think we had that bad boy sideways.

We were like drifting into the runway.

And I was like, Is this and the guy across the aisle happened to be a pilot?

He's just looking at a magazine.

I'm white knuckling the seat in front of me, going, Hell Mary, full of grace.

And the guy's just looking and he he didn't close the mag.

He just looked over and said, They're turning into the headwind.

Okay, thank you.

Show off.

That means nothing, okay?

And then all of a sudden, we're like two feet off the ground and hard right, boom, landed.

And I didn't think it was that loud, but I just kind of went, oh.

And he said, Yeah, you gotta turn in.

And I'm like most of you, he's Mr.

Noah.

I'm like, what are you like a pilot?

And he goes, actually, I am.

Never mind.

Now, hold fast.

Why do I talk about holding fast?

Because the winds of our culture are howling these days, whether you realize it or not.

I mean, you got everything, you got politics, you got race baiters that are stirring up all these things, and then you got the transgender emphasis going on, what's being crammed down everybody's throat.

I mean, there's a lot going on to knock you off course.

I mean, the cultural winds are so strong, they got kid rocked to give up drinking Bud Light.

I mean, come on.

Look at me.

It's not gonna stop.

It's not gonna stop.

You gotta make your mind up.

You gotta make up your mind.

What am I gonna believe?

See, two consequences of the resurrection.

The first one is there is good news.

The second one is simply this all things are not equal.

All things are not equal.

Where do you get that?

Verse three.

He says, for I delivered to you as a first importance what I also received.

And he goes on to unpack that.

Hear it again.

I delivered to you as a first importance.

First important, what do you mean?

I delivered to you.

Not all things, when the Bible says, hey, this is not just important, it's the first most important thing.

Your ears ought to perk up.

You gotta be like Scooby-Doo.

You gotta be like, whoa, something's the Bible's putting a lot of emphasis here.

We live in a culture that says all things are equal.

The Bible says all things are not equal.

I want to just say this.

I would submit to you that one of the reasons we have crippling anxiety and a mental health crisis in our country is we're trying to teach our kids that everything's the same.

Boys and girls are the same, all religions are the same, all students are the same, everybody deserves the same thing.

Look at me, okay?

And that's not true.

You have to work for some things in life.

I believe in equality of opportunity.

I do not believe in equality of outcomes.

Because if you're gonna tell everybody you all get the same outcome, look at me.

Why work?

Why do your homework?

Why do away with AP and advanced credit in school?

My daughter graduated across the street, had 32 credit hours for college.

I'd like that'd be two years.

How much does that save me?

Look at me.

When you take away the work ethic and the incentive, like I that that same daughter went to high school right across the street in the ninth grade, her history teacher said, Look around.

No, look around the other.

And he said, These are not your friends, this is your competition.

They want the scholarship that you want.

You gotta beat them out to get it.

I didn't say, Oh, hey, it doesn't matter what you do, you're all gonna get a trophy.

You're not helping people when you do that, you're addicting them to government assistance.

But I digress.

Anyway, all things are not equal.

He says, hey, I delivered to you as a first importance.

First importance means this.

First in rank, chief, principal, highest priority.

And you should ask yourself, hey, it's my problem that I got the wrong things, they're too high a priority, or the right things have too low a priority.

Are the wrong things too high a priority?

Or are the right things too low of a priority?

Because the Bible says, hey, this is the highest priority.

This is of first importance.

What's he talking about?

What should be a priority on this Easter Sunday?

Let me point to four or five things.

He said, first of all, Christ died for our sins.

Christ died for our sins.

Notice he didn't say Christ died for sinners, but for sin.

Now, by extension, people that are sinners like you and I by nature, we are affected by that.

But we need to get our language right.

And here's why.

When we say Christ died for sinners, then we consume that upon our worth.

And what happens is you get a bunch of people who never get tired of being loved enough by Jesus that he dies for them.

I've shared the gospel with people and they go, bro, I know God loves me and he died for my sins.

And I'm like, uh, and we consume that upon our worth.

We say, yes, thank you.

I love that God loved me so much that he would die for me.

They love that, but they also love to sin.

And here's the problem: if Christ died for sin, then you got to ask your question yourself this question how the death of Christ has affected your relationship with sin.

I mean, a man said to me, I grew up in church.

I know all the answers.

I said, I'm not interested in the answers, I'm interested in you.

He goes, What do you want to know?

I said, He said, I know Christ died for me.

God loves me, Christ died for me on the cross.

I said, Christ died for sins.

And so for you to say you understand that is one thing.

For you to say you experience that is a totally different thing.

Because if Christ died for sins, which is what the Bible says, then you've got to ask, how has my relationship with sin been changed by the reality of Christ dying for these sins that I just keep on committing?

Does that make sense?

Say amen.

And my friend's like, oh, I got to think about that one.

The Bible says the priorities that Christ died for sins.

Here's another priority: was buried.

Two simple words, was buried.

You notice we don't talk much about that in the church.

We don't go on and on about Jesus was buried.

Radically consequential thing.

Here's why.

Let me just tick off three things.

Number one, it's a reminder of the costliness of sin.

The burial of Jesus reminds us of the costliness of sin.

The wages of sin is death.

He actually died for sins.

He didn't die just for no reason.

He died for sins and he was buried.

There's a finality there.

Secondly, the burial of Jesus validates and necessitates the resurrection of Jesus.

Here's a third one.

The burial of Jesus fulfilled scripture.

Isaiah 53.9, written 740 years before Jesus comes on the scene.

And in Isaiah 53.9, the Bible says that he'll be in his death, he'll be with a rich man in his death.

And you're kind of like, what?

That's kind of crazy.

What do you mean?

He's gonna have rich friends?

No.

This prophet, this is what's called a prophecy.

Now listen carefully.

We'll come to this in just a few minutes, all right?

A prophecy is something a promise God makes.

And regardless of how much time passes, it comes true.

Now, most of you in this room have had people tell you something and they did not keep their word.

Yes or no?

Yes.

You've had people say stuff.

Oh, I love you.

I'm not going anywhere.

I wasn't talking to that girl.

I wouldn't cheat on you.

We're gonna be best friends forever.

Not true.

740 years before Jesus comes on the scene, it says, He will be with a rich man in his death.

Jesus dies, he's taken down from the cross.

A rich man named Joseph of Arimathea says, I have a tomb that no one's ever been laid in.

Put him in there.

He said, Why is that a big deal?

The burial of Jesus points to the reality, the veracity of the Bible.

Here's a third thing that of first importance that he was raised on the third day.

That he was raised on the third day.

Short phrase, long history.

If you're taking notes, write down these words.

Three-day design pattern.

Three-day design pattern.

You're like, thank you very much.

What does that mean?

Yeah, uh, all throughout the Bible, one of the things you'll see is this pattern.

This three-day design pattern runs all through the scripture.

Let me just tick off some for you.

You ain't got to try to write all this down.

You can some of you are like, dude, it's like drinking from a fire hydrant.

Just take it in, okay?

Uh, three-day design pattern starts in the very beginning.

Genesis chapter one.

On the third day, uh, dry land appears.

God's creating everything.

Dry land appears and plants appear.

First evidence of life.

Three days later, on the sixth day or the second, third day, uh, people show up.

You got plants show up, and then people show up because good things happen on the third day.

Then you fast forward to Genesis 22.

There's a man named Abraham.

Stop me if this sounds familiar, okay?

God tells a man named Abraham, take your son, your only son Isaac, and offer him up on a mountain that I will show you.

Now, if God says that to me, I'm like, and they loaded everything up and they took off hiking out in the woods, looking.

And the Bible says, On the third day, Abraham saw the place from afar and he proceeded.

Again, the Bible's kind of winking at us, going, Do you see the pattern developing here?

Exodus 19.

God establishes a covenant with his people Israel.

He says, I'm going to meet you on Mount Sinai, okay?

And I'm going to coven it by myself.

I'm going to obligate and oath myself to you.

And then four times he uses this phrase on the third day, on the third day, on the third day, on the third day.

Fast forward to Hosea 6.

God's people have gotten off the reservation, burned it to the ground, and God disciplined them.

And this is what they say.

I'll just read it to you.

Hosea 6, 1 and 2.

Come, let us return to the Lord.

For he has torn us that he may heal us.

He has struck us down and he will bind us up.

After two days, we he will revive us.

On the third day, he will raise us up that we may live before him.

On the third day, he will raise us up.

Here's the fifth person in this pattern is Jesus.

Twenty-one times in the gospels, Jesus says, on the third day, the third day, the third day, he said to his knucklehead disciples, Hey, the Son of Man's gonna go to Jerusalem and suffer at the hands of sinful men.

And then he's gonna be crucified and buried, and on the third day, he will rise again.

And they didn't believe him.

Now, you should be thinking, why are you telling us that on Easter?

Very simple reason.

When you see things like this, does it give you hope that someone is actually in charge of the world?

That there's a meaning and a purpose to it all.

And it's not politicians, and it's not the culture, it's not the latest activist group that's just taking over the media.

No, no.

It's a real God who says, hey, from the very beginning, I've established these patterns to give my people a sense of hope.

Here's a fourth thing that you that there's a priority.

This phrase is repeated twice, in accordance with the scriptures, in accordance with the scriptures.

Uh what's the Bible telling us here?

Basically, simple this.

In the Bible, you have something that's reliable, trustworthy, and authoritative.

In the Bible, you have something that's reliable, trustworthy, and authoritative.

One of the things about the Bible is it contains uh what's called prophecy.

Remember a minute ago I talked about 740 years ago, uh, before Jesus, the book of Isaiah?

That's that's a prophecy, that's a promise.

No other sacred text uh of any religion has prophecy in it because it exposes the Bible to being not true.

All has to happen is one of these prophecies, one of these promises God makes doesn't come true, and you can go, forget the whole thing, man.

It's just a book written by men.

But over and over and over, God makes a promise and God keeps his promise.

God speaks a prophecy, says this is gonna happen, and then he fulfills the prophecy.

This is great news because it gives us something that we can look at.

It's not a list of rules and regulations.

Look at me, beloved.

It's a book that tells you who you are.

That's what it is.

Here's the last thing I would point to.

Just this little three-word phrase that he appeared.

He says he was buried, he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures in verse 5, and then he appeared.

And it gives a list of the people that he appeared to.

Cephas was this Peter, 500 people, some who've died, some are still alive.

Why does the Bible tell us that?

Because if you wanted to discredit this claim, these people are still alive.

They could go, I was there, that didn't happen.

But they don't do that.

He ticks off all the people.

And then the guy writing, Paul is like, and last of all, he appeared to me as someone untimely born.

That phrase untimely born is where we get our English word miscarriage.

He's like, dude, I was out of sync with the times and the timing of God.

I persecuted the church of God.

No one deserves grace less than I do.

I don't deserve it at all.

And yet the grace of God found me and unwound me.

He appeared.

That means to see with the mind to perceive and to know.

Now, I'm done in one minute.

You got one minute left in you?

It says, for he that he appeared, it means to see with the mind to perceive and know.

We believe, I believe this is what you were created for.

Everyone in this room, regardless of what you've done, when you did it, if you did it last night, the grace of God is more is greater than your sin.

I believe you were created by God for a relationship with God.

You say, Well, how do you get that?

I can't talk you into it.

I can't factually present things that you go, oh honey, that Eureka.

But God, the way He appeared to these people, He reveals Himself, okay, to you.

He said, Well, I don't understand that.

If you're married in this room, say amen.

Let me say it like you like it, people.

Amen.

I got the old battle axe right here.

Gonna make us take a family picture when we're done.

She said, Don't get out of those clothes.

We're gonna take a family picture.

Yes.

She's gotta put something on Instagram to prove that she got your heathen cell phone church on Easter Sunday, so her mom will stop bugging her.

Yes, yes.

She's like, see, mom, he's not a bad man.

Look at me.

Here's a question, and I'm done.

Stop laughing.

How did you go from a first date to being married?

Well, uh, it involved vodka.

No, no, no.

Here's how you would use different language, but here's what happened.

That came a point where you just knew.

You just knew.

You just knew.

I mean, you just I mean, the first time I spent time with my the woman that's now my wife, uh, we weren't dating.

We were just, hey, we had mutual friends, let's get lunch.

She went home and told her roommate, I don't want to spend another five minutes with that man the rest of my life.

Ask her.

She was like, oh my gosh, she talked the whole time.

She wasn't talking.

I just thought she wanted to hear more.

I mean, she walked in her apartment, she's like, oh my gosh.

It's like a singing out of bad boys bullish, bullish, words everywhere.

Yeah.

I've been married to her for 30 years.

We got two kids, a minivan and a mortgage.

What happened?

Look at me.

Something appeared in her.

And something appeared in me.

And neither one of us could deny it.

Look at me.

That's what it's like when God reveals Himself to you.

You'll come to the point where you'll be like, this is the one.

And I hope today's that day for some of you.

If it is, as soon as we're done here, just some of us will be available down front.

Just come up and just say, hey man, today was my day.

I'm we're never gonna jam you up if you come to church here.

It shouldn't be an Easter Sunday only thing.

You should get your behind in a church where you're taught the Bible so you understand who God is and who you are as a result of it.

Why?

Because that's how He reveals Himself.

That's how it appears to you.

That's how it clicks in your head and your heart, and it finds expression in your hands, okay?

Every time we we gather, we teach the Bible, and then we like to give you some soul space to think about it.

So this is what's gonna happen.

I'm gonna voice a prayer.

So questions come up on the screen for you to think about.

You can get your phone out discreetly.

Don't be don't be like a lady in the first service who's got her phone back there.

Like you're hitting the just click.

It's just something to think about, okay?

Let me voice a prayer.

Let's pray.

God, thanks for the truth of the of the gospel.

It's real.

You don't make it up.

You don't trying to scare us.

You're just saying, hey, here's the truth.

There's enough in this world to scare us.

There's so much anxiety and mental health because we are lying to ourselves and we're lying to our kids.

Because at the core, we're kind of cowardly, we're kind of afraid.

And the response is not to go out and be militant, the response is to go out and be steadfast, to be consistent.

Just to remind ourselves the gospel enables me to occupy my space out of my identity and with authority.

So, Holy Spirit, brood over us.

I pray for people in this room that have always thought about it in terms of religion.

But in this moment, they realize now it's a relationship.

It's a relationship.

Reveal yourself, God.

It's only you can.

We're gonna pray and think for a moment while you talk to us.

God, thank you that you're a God of goodness.

Holy Spirit, thank you that you speak a language we understand.

We're grateful.

So we say thank you in Jesus' name.

And everyone said, Amen.

Amen.

If you're our guest today, let me say thanks for being here.

You're always welcome.

You're always welcome, okay?

You don't have to get yourself together to come to church.

You come just like you are.

God speaks a language you understand.

We have things coming up in the life of our church we want you to know about that would be impactful for you and your family.

So give your attention to the screens for our announcements this morning.

There are some exciting things happening at Grand Parkway Baptist Church.

If you're new, text welcome to 281-626-5707.

This way we can know you're here and get you connected with the church.

If you haven't noticed already, we have a new and improved website.

So head over to grandparkway.org where you can learn about our church, get connected, register for events, give, and watch past sermons with ease.

Summer Camp is around the corner, which means camps.

So save these dates.

Starting in our kids' building for children 18 months through and during kindergarten, Camp Arc will be returning from June 20th through the 22nd.

Also making another appearance is Pine Cove City for children currently in kindergarten through the fourth grade.

It'll be from June 19th through the 23rd.

For 5th and 6th grade, we have Bridge Camp, held June 13th through the 16th.

For 7th through 12th grade, student camp will occur July 17th through the 21st.

Once again, mark your calendars and keep a lookout for registration.

Finally, our women's spring Bible study, Armor of God Standing Firm, begins this month on April 26th from 6.30 to 8:30 p.m.

in the gathering room.

You can register at grandparkway.org.

If you have questions or want someone to pray for you, find one of our pastors at the front of the stage at the conclusion of our service.

We'd like to conclude our service with a spoken blessing, so if you would, stand to your feet.

Hold your hands out.

Jesus Christ rose from the dead, so you wouldn't have to fear death, your past, or any people.

He empowers you.

The resurrection is consequential.

Depart now and live in light of these consequences.

In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

Bless you.